PerspectiveAcross the U.S., States Are Bracing for More Climate-Related Disasters
Officials in states across the United States are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change. Alex Brown writes that “Even states whose leaders don’t publicly acknowledge the existence of climate change, such as Texas and South Carolina, have applied for federal dollars citing ‘changing coastal conditions’ or ‘unpredictability’.”
Officials in states across the United States are calling for huge investments to mitigate the effects of wildfires, flooding, hurricanes, droughts, and other natural disasters made more devastating and frequent by climate change.
Alex Brown writes in the Los Angeles Times that following the hottest decade on record, which witnessed record-breaking wildfires in the West, extreme weather events such as Superstorm Sandy, a years-long drought in California, and severe flooding in the Midwest, lawmakers in many states say it is long past time to treat such events as the new normal — and invest accordingly.
Brown writes:
The federal government is looking ahead as well. The Department of Housing and Urban Development is operating a $16-billion program to help coastal states prepare for natural disasters, a shift from the typical funding model of providing money after disasters have happened.
Even states whose leaders don’t publicly acknowledge the existence of climate change, such as Texas and South Carolina, have applied for federal dollars citing “changing coastal conditions” or “unpredictability,” the New York Times reported.
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While climate change is shifting conditions in coastal areas, it’s also making the West drier, increasing the likelihood of more frequent and severe droughts. Last year, seven Western states signed, and Congress approved, an agreement to use less water from the Colorado River. Limits go into effect when the water falls below certain levels. Regional leaders say much more work remains to prepare for drier conditions under climate change.
In New York and South Carolina, legislators will consider bills that would prepare for disaster by pushing people to get out of nature’s way. New York put hundreds of millions of dollars into buyouts for homes flooded during Superstorm Sandy.
The proposals being under consideration would require borrowing massive amounts of money to pay for future work, create new surcharges to bankroll permanent disaster accounts, or shift development away from areas prone to disaster. “All those plans would come at a cost to state budgets or taxpayers, but supporters say the spending is necessary,” Brown writes.
